I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to air temperature and air quality control in buildings. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for circulating air in a room, for substantially equalizing the air temperature of a room, and for treating the air of a room.
II. Description on the Relevant Art
Modern office buildings and even many new homes are designed to be more or less sealed boxes, not allowing outside air to enter or exit but through the occasionally opened door. The modern "hermetically-sealed" construction is thought to minimize heating and cooling costs by prohibiting the random opening and closing of windows by office workers. The modern construction also reduces building costs because sealed windows are less costly to make and install than are windows that can be selectively opened and closed.
While proving to save money, the modern design also produces undesirable results, in that the interior air never changes to any significant degree. Workers often complain of what has become known as "sick building syndrome", allegedly caused by dirty office air.
A problem also related to the static nature of air in modern buildings (as well as in older buildings with windows that are openable) is that warm air tends to linger below the ceiling while cooler air remains in the lower half of the room. The floor-to-ceiling temperature difference can vary by a considerable amount and a variance of between 15 and 30 degrees is common. The result is that the warm air is not generally in the area occupied by people, thus requiring the need for higher amounts of heat energy to be used to warm the lower half of the room.
Known approaches to overcoming these problems have failed.